Olivia Williams
Olivia’s scholarship relates to these UN Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs):
My name’s Olivia and I’m a horticulturist and now 2025 Global Footprints Scholarship recipient and graduate.
I will never forget the day I received the call from Sam and the BBM team telling me I’d been chosen for the scholarship. I could never have imagined in my wildest dreams the places it would take me, the people I would meet and the adventures I was just about to embark on.
I wanted to approach this opportunity as authentically as possible — finding passionate people, grassroots projects and culturally sustainable approaches to conservation horticulture and climate change action.
This is exactly how I found myself in Peru in February 2025. One of my first stops was Huascaran National Park in the Cordillera Blanca range, where I was able to see the incredible Puya raymondii growing at over 4200 metres above sea level. These endangered bromeliads flower only once every 80 to 100 years, and seeing them thriving in such an extreme environment was something I’ll never forget.
I was lucky enough to start my first placement at the wonderful Taricaya Ecological Reserve in Puerto Maldonado. The Taricaya team — Fernando, Rachel and Mauricio — welcomed us like family for three weeks. Settling in here was… no other way to put it, just wild.
Here you can see Ellie, Taricaya’s resident tapir rescue. She was following us on a diversity walk and honestly gave us the best giggles the whole way along.
I worked alongside Mauricio, a Bolivian biologist on his recently funded agroforestry pilot program. We worked with two main species: Dipteryx micrantha and the Geonoma deversa. Dipteryx micrantha is an ironwood tree species mainly used for logging in the area and supported a variety of endangered animals, particularly the Harpy Eagles nesting sites. Geonoma diversa is a well known palm used in traditional house roof thatching. Both species were heavily threatened by deforestation and illegal logging.
I spent the majority of my days in Taricaya tending to a small scale nursery of hand collected seed grown saplings. Mauricio’s project worked alongside local communities, providing said seed grown saplings to be intermixed with traditional crops in support of both livelihoods and long-term forest stewardship.
In May 2026, I was lucky enough to make a great contact in Sarah Buerli and Jonathan Wifling at the University Botanical Garden in Graz, Austria and began a three week placement there in early May 2026. Most days were spent working across the Alpinium and Apothecary Garden, while other days involved university lectures and alpine field excursions. One of my highlights was joining a group of Masters students on an alpine trek where we spent hours recording highly endemic species found nowhere else in the world.
Whether it was seed saving programs, public events like the Raritaetenmarkt (the obscure plant market held the second weekend I was there) or university discussions around future-forward farming solutions, there was a consistent effort and focus on finding realistic ways for conservation and human livelihood to coexist rather than compete.
Across both Peru and Austria, one of the biggest lessons I came away with was the understanding that successful conservation can’t happen in isolation. The most impactful projects I witnessed worked on usually happened alongside local communities — sharing knowledge and creating solutions that benefited both people and the surrounding landscape. Seeing this firsthand deeply changed the way I view horticulture and is something I’ll carry with me throughout my career. It inspired me to become more curious, collaborative and hopeful about what the future of conservation can look like.
This scholarship changed the way I see both horticulture and my place within it. I’m incredibly grateful to the BBM team for their support, my sponsors over at Mayfield Garden and every person who stopped, went out of their way and contributed in any way possible just to help a young Australian career driven person like myself. I really couldn’t have done it without you and I will never forget my time abroad. Thank you guys!